Aditya Birla Group to go trendy with Pantaloons portal

Aditya Birla Group is warming up to eCommerce. With 65 inherited Pantaloon outlets and 40 more added by the Group, the company is eyeing eCommerce to tap customers who prefer online shopping.

Indian Retailer Bureau
Sub Editor

To explore the eCommerce business in India, Aditya Birla Group will soon start an eCommerce portal for Pantaloons department store.

In 2013, Aditya Birla inherited 65 Pantaloons outlets and so far added 40 stores in the past two years.

"In the coming weeks, consumers will be able to buy our products through pantaloons.com," says Shital Mehta, chief executive of the Aditya Birla's unit that the Group had acquired from Future Group.
Around three years ago, Aditya Birla announced the acquisition of Pantaloons from Kishore Biyani for Rs 1,600 crore. The Pantaloons chain came into his fold in 2013.

Pantaloons products are already available through Aditya Birla Group’s eCommerce site Trendin.com. Now, the department store chain will have its own eCommerce site. The back-end and logistics will still be handled by Trendin, Mehta said.

Currently, all Aditya Birla Group brands including Allen Solly, Louis Philippe, Peter England among other labels are sold through the common Trendin online platform. Pantaloons' buyers will also be redirected to Trendin, Mehta added.

"A lot of customers want to buy offline as well as online and this is just to ensure we give them a seamless shopping," he said. The loyalty card holders will also receive the same loyalty benefits as that of the brick-and-mortar stores.

Pantaloons will also push its offline business by expanding its brick-and-mortar store and plans to open on-an-average, two stores a month in the coming years.

Recently, the company rolled out its 100th store in Karol Bagh, New Delhi. And eight more stores are slated in the coming week, Mehta said.

Only last month, Pantaloons signed an exclusive deal to sell its private labels on Jabong. Thus, joining India's oldest brands that are warming up to eCommerce.